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Summary: All Quiet On The Western Front

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All Quiet on the Western Front
There are not many books written about World War I. All Quiet on the Western Front was written by Erich Maria Remarque. Paul Bäumer is a German soldier who fought in the trenches during WWI. Bäumer is the protagonist and narrator of All Quiet on the Western Front. Paul Baumer’s testament of the war is bitter invective against sentimental ideas.
Paul Bäumer is a 19 year old male that enlisted in World War One. Bäumer is very fit because of the war. All Quiet on the Western Front states, “All four are nineteen years of age, and all four joined up from the same class as volunteers for the war.” (Remarque 4). Because of Paul’s fitness, he can do many things in the military, and to help him stay alive.
Paul Bäumer …show more content…
Bäumer chooses them because he knows the most about them and knew them before the war. Bäumer and his comrades are his new family. When Paul goes on leave, he feels like a cube trying to fit in a round mold. Bäumer has a complex relationship with his mother. Bäumer appears to simply tolerate his father. Kat is Paul's adoptive father in the novel, his coach. Kat demonstrates all of the things Paul's father does not; Kat is not concerned with his image, he's capable, and caring. Paul has a demurring, way of thinking about the authority figures who make his life miserable. Bäumer treats all of them with a passive-aggressive respect, just enough respect to get past them and move on.
Paul Bäumer and his comrades believe that the wrong people are fighting the war. All Quiet on the Western Front states, “‘almost all of us are simple folk…Now why would a French blacksmith or French shoemaker want to attack us? No, it is merely the rulers,” (Remarque 151). The novel also states, “‘every full-grown emperor requires at least one war, otherwise he would not become famous...And generals too,’” (Remarque 152). The personnel wish to go back home, while the rulers of the countries who are fighting, to

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